


Bring The Sky To Her

by HunterHero179



Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Birthday, Father-Daughter Relationship, Kipo is a cute kid, Lio is a great dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:16:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26927989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterHero179/pseuds/HunterHero179
Summary: Lio makes the constellations for Kipo on her eighth birthday
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Bring The Sky To Her

Lio had to admit, he was quite the party planner. Especially for Kipo’s birthday parties. Well, actually, _only_ for her parties, but the point still stood. Each year, of which there had been seven so far, he celebrated his daughter’s birthday with a grand gesture, always one upping himself.

Just last year, he managed to create a giant replicant of the DNA strand, completed with removable parts. Kipo _loved_ it. She played with it all day, rebuilding and destroying it in an almost mindless way, leaving a mess in the main room. He even joined in and taught her the difference between DNA and RNA.

And the year before that, he made a cake in the shape of the Earth with all the layers included. He and Kipo cut up the cake, discussing the composition of the Earth, with a nice snack and small food fight afterwards. They cleaned up the resulting mess and he got to tuck Kipo in for the night. Girl was tired after all that cake and fun. He spent a few seconds or so looking at her as she slept, a fond smile on his face.

Now this year, he had a big, yet simple, present plan. Recently Kipo had taken up a very massive interest in astronomy. It wasn’t a fast and heavy interest where it was intense for a good week, then faded away from her mind. No, he could tell it was one where she would always be fascinated by the stars and he, being the good father he was, planned on nurturing that love of astronomy. It didn’t matter if they lived underground and the chances of seeing the actual sky were low. He wanted Kipo to be happy and he knew just how to do that.

Along with her fascination with astronomy, she had a more condensed passion towards the constellations and the zodiac signs. She knew both the Western and Chinese version, she knew which area in the sky they were positioned in, and she even knew her own Western zodiac, which was Aries. He taught her all the animals associated with the signs and she loved the ram that came with the sign Aries.

“Aries comes from the Greek Myth of the ram Chrysomallus,” he had told her as she sat in his lap, looking up at him. “The symbol is shape just like this-”

He took her hand, so small in his own, and drew the symbol in the air, two hooks with their back to each other. Or like a very rudimentary skull shape of a ram skull. She stared with pure concentration as he did so. She then did it on her own, grinning ear to ear. “I’m an Aries,” she practically declared, drawing the symbol over and over again.

“Yes, you are,” Lio laughed.

He thought back on that memory fondly as he prepared Kipo’s breakfast, a special one for her eighth birthday. Deep fried dough sticks with soy milk on the side. He also had to hurry, as he wanted to talk to some of Kipo’s friends before she was up. He slid the sticks onto a plate, placed a bowl of soy milk next to them, then hurried out the door towards the music library.

Troy, one of Kipo’s friends, frequently dragged her and the others to the music library so they could listen to his favorite tracks. Kipo was always happy to indulge in her friends' interest, as did they. From what she told him, Lio knew the boy liked Oz the Originator the most, and would play his song over and over again. He also knew the boy liked to spend time there the most, so his chances of finding Troy there were very high.

So he wasn’t surprised when he saw the boy sitting there, the Oz the Originator’s song playing. Troy bounced his head to the music, obviously entranced. When Lio put his hand on his shoulder, the boy jumped, whipped around to see who it was.

“Oh, Mr. Oak!” he said, reaching over and turning off the song. Lio smiled.

“Hey, Troy. I have a favor to ask of you.”

He raised a brow. “Is it about Kipo’s birthday?”

Lio nodded. “Yep! I was wondering if you, Asher, and Dahlia can keep her out of our place for a few hours. I gotta set something up for her present.”

Troy was already nodding halfway through the first sentence, a determined look on his face that only a kid could make. “Sure thing, Mr. Oak!”

“Alright then, I’ll send her here when we finish breakfast.”

With that out of the way, Lio headed back, rubbing his hands together as he saw his plan about to begin. He opened the door to his place and saw Kipo was already scarfing down the dough sticks, a goofy grin plastered to her face. She paused when he walked in, then waved an excited hand at him.

“Hi, Dad! These are _yum_ my!” she said, shoving the last bite of the current stick she had. Lio chuckled, ruffling her hair before stealing a stick for himself.

“Hey, Kiddo. How’s being eight so far?”

She hummed, leaning back in her chair as she tapped a dough stick on her mouth. “Good!” Having decided the right word she wanted to use, she proceeded to eat the last of her breakfast at neck breaking speed, much to Lio’s amusement.

When she was finished, he sent her Troy’s way, being subtle about the surprise he was planning. She knew that was one, there always was one on her birthday, yet of what kind, she didn’t know. Besides, why would she want to? The point was being surprised, after all. She went off easily enough because of this, and Lio started right away.

He pulled out the bag from underneath his bed, lifted it up and brought it over to the table. Sometimes he wondered if Kipo ever thought about looking there, if she ever thought about finding out the surprise herself. If she did know, she was good at hiding it, that’s for sure.

From inside the bag came long strings of small lights, a roll of clear tape, and a battery pack. Then he went over to the bookshelf that rested in the living room, taking papers he had hidden behind the book on the top shelf and tucking them under his armpit.

He spread out the papers on the table, which showed a close up of each constellation and one of which was a constellation map. That one was placed to the side, so he could glance at it as he worked. Lio grabbed a handful of the light strings, carefully untangling each one from the other and draping them onto his shoulders without them re-tangling themselves. Then he stood up on the table, making sure his feet didn’t step on the papers, and started making the constellations for his daughter.

The one disappointing thing about Kipo’s fascination was the stars was that he could never really bring her up to see them in person. As much as he wanted to, and it was hard wanting to when he knew it would bring out her big grin on her face, the surface was too dangerous. Too unstable. The last thing he wanted was Kipo in danger and that exactly what the surface world would bring to her. Maybe she was older, he could take the risk knowing she could handle herself, but for now? He was content bringing the sky to her, just for her birthday.

Which was really, really, _really_ more difficult that he thought it would be.

First came the point that he kept nearly falling down. His feet were either too big for the table or his feet moved too much for him to remember where he was. Regardless, every now and then one of his feet would wobble close off the edge, making him wave his arms around in littles circles just so he could keep his balance. Once, he actually did fall off, but he fell onto the top and onto the floor, which would not be nice. He could only imagine how sore he’d be the next day and it made him shiver.

Then there was the lights and tape. He didn’t want to ruin the illusion with big tape pieces all over the ceiling, so he was tearing it into small strips and folding them into squares. This task ate up the most time, as he had to carefully tear, fold, then place the tape so it wasn’t all that visible. Add this with the nearly falling down thing and he had a nice mixture of time consuming and frustration.

But it was all for Kipo. And when he stepped down from the table, plugged the battery pack to the end of the connected strings, he was grinning almost madly. He could see it now, like an image over his real sight, of Kipo’s happy face when she looked up and saw the shining stars above her.

He went towards the library, a pep in his step as he thought more and more about how Kipo would react. In the library, he saw the four kids sitting on the floor, Kipo’s friends listening intently as she told them a story of some kind. She moved her arms in smooth, swift movements, narrating as she did. Her friends were absorbed in her storytelling, none of the four noticing Lio’s footsteps. He stood behind his daughter, waiting for her to finish before he showed her the surprise.

Unfortunately, Asher looked up and said, “Mr. Oak! Are you here for Kipo?”

Lio smiled, seeing Kipo shoot her head up and return the grin. “Yes, I am. I have something to show her.” She was up before he was halfway through his sentence. With hurried goodbyes to her friends, who waved as they left, she tugged him out of the library, bouncing while she walked. Lio laughed, letting her lead him back home. At the door, he stopped her and knelt to her level. She looked at him with eager.

“Now, you gotta close your eyes. Don’t want to ruin the surprise, do you?” He raised a brow, a chuckle bubbling out of his mouth when Kipo inhaled and shut her eyes tightly closed, a hand covering them just in case.

He grabbed her free hand, opening the door and leading them inside. He led her to the couch, helping her sit down. Throughout this, she kept her eyes shut and her hand over them. No chances were taken from her. Lio flicked the lightswitch off, settling down next to her before he said, “Alright. Open them and look up!”

The gasp she made had his heart swelling. She gaped at the ceiling, the lights reflecting off of her awed face. Leaning back to see it better, she stared at the night sky above her, the stars twinkling. She turned and saw her dad staring at her, a wide smile on his face.

“Happy birthday, Kipo.” He pulled her into a hug, a warm one that left both feeling so much love. “Now, tell me. Where’s the Aries?”

They spent the rest of the day observing the sky Lio made for his daughter, forgetting that they were underground and pretending that they were on the surface, enjoying the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love Kipo and Lio's relationship, I needed to write some fluff about it.


End file.
